Colorado oil shales

A. GuUiford, Boomtown Blues Colorado Oil Shale, 1885—1985, University Press of Colorado, Boulder, 1989. 

The data shown in Fig. 8.11 are for an 80 ml/kg grade oil shale obtained from a mine near central Colorado. Oil shale grades from this region vary from 40-320 ml/kg. Properties such as fracture toughness and elastic constants are found to depend on oil shale grade. For the oil shale studied in Fig. 8.11, a fracture toughness of x 0.9 MN/m, a density of p = 2000 kg/m and an elastic wave speed of c = 3000 m/s are representative. 

SToLlEnwerk, K. S. 1980. Geochemistry of Leachate from Retorted and Unretorted Colorado Oil Shale. PhD dissertation, University of Colorado, USA,... 

Stollenwerk, K. S. Runnells, D. D. 1981. Composition of leachate from surface-retorted and unretorted Colorado oil shale. Environmental Science and Technology, 15, 1340-1346. 

W. E., An Optically Active Triterpane, Gammacerane in Green River, Colorado, Oil Shale Bitumen, Chem. Commun. (1966), 752. 

All of the tests conducted in the pilot plant were with a single batch of Colorado oil shale from the U.S. Bureau of Mines mine at Rifle, Colo. Mine run material was crushed to 1/4-in. size at the mine and sieved elsewhere into various fractions. We selected a —6+10 U.S. Standard sieve size material for most of these tests because it was the largest size which we could successfully feed with our existing equipment. This material had a Fischer assay oil yield in the 20-25 gal/ton range. 

Table II. Typical Analysis of Colorado Oil Shale Used in Bench-Scale Test Program...

Electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency spectrum is absorbed most strongly by molecules with permanent dipole moments (4). The relaxation phenomenon of this absorbed power manifests itself in a heatlike reaction. The University of Colorado Oil Shale Project has studied the degradation of the liquid-fuel precursor (kerogen) by micro-wave interaction. Kerogen is a moderately strong absorber of this radia-... 

Hubbard and Robinson (1950) did extensive experiments on thermal decomposition of Colorado oil shales. The following lumped components were reported. 

Hubbard, A. B., and W. E. Robinson, A thermal decomposition study of Colorado oil shale. Report of Investigations 4744, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines (1950). 

Chen, W. J. and H. E. Nuttall, "A TGA Study of Colorado Oil Shale with a New Kinetic Model, 86th AICHE National Meeting, Houston, Texas, April 1979 (unpublished). 

Hubbard, A. B. Robinson, W. E. "A Thermal Decomposition Study of Colorado Oil Shale," Report of Investigation 4744, Bureau of Mines, Washington, D.C., 1950. 

Reduction and Phenol Acid Depolymerization of Colorado Oil Shale Kerogen... 

Ashing of Oil Shales. Because of potential difficulties due to carbonate content of the shales, the normal ASTM ashing procedure for coals was evaluated to find the optimum ashing temperature with minimum elemental losses for shales. A Colorado oil shale was ashed at 750°C for 15 hours, and then successively ashed for 3 hours each at 850, 950, and 1050°C. From each stage, the percentage ash was determined. All of... 

Table I. Analysis of Inorganic Constituents in Colorado Oil Shale...

Table II Bulk multielement analysis of Colorado oil shale (C-a Tract, Mahogany Zone)...

Mineral Reactions for Two Colorado Oil Shale Samples—A Comparison... 

Two Colorado oil shale samples one from the Parachute Creek Member and the other from the C-a tract, were retorted, de-charred and then subjected to temperatures between 800 K and 1100 K in order to study the mineral reactions which take place. Comparisions between these two samples include the reversible nature of ankeritic dolomite and free calcite as well as the temperatures at which significant silication takes place. Results for the C-a tract samples indicated silication appears to take place in stages and that ankeritic dolomite decomposition can be prevented by relatively low CO2 concentrations. Ankeritic dolomite and calcite decomposition rates were similar for the two samples and there was strong evidence that calcite recarbonation takes place via non-activated chemisorption of C(>2 ... 

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